The present invention relates to coaxial connectors for carrying high frequency radio signals and in particular to a receptacle adapted for attachment to glass.
The widespread availability of wireless telecommunication services such as cellular telephones has created an increasing demand upon the manufacturers of automobiles and automobile accessories to adapt cellular telephone equipment for use in vehicles. One particular artifact of most mobile cellular telephones presently in use is the so-called "pig tail" type antenna which is typically seen mounted to a trunk lid or roof or adjacent the top portion of a rear glass in a vehicle. While this type of antenna works well for its intended purpose, it is prone to breakage either through accident or vandalism. Furthermore, certain owners of luxury and sports cars believe that by attaching an external antenna, they have detracted from the esthetic beauty of their expensive automobile.
This situation has lead to the development of a type of cellular telephone antenna which is screened directly onto the rear glass of a vehicle. This antenna, which is typically created using silk screening techniques analogous to those techniques used to manufacture a heater-defroster element, apply a coating of conductive material in an appropriate pattern on the glass for supporting radio wave propagation and reception.
However, this type of radio antenna which is embedded in the window creates a new problem. In particular, the radio transceiver is typically mounted in the vehicle interior, the trunk, or other place which is out of sight. A coaxial cable is then run from the remotely located transceiver to the window antenna. While in the past there have been developed certain techniques for passing the radio frequency signals from the coaxial cable through the glass to an externally mounted pig tail type antenna, these techniques cannot be directly adapted to connecting to an antenna which is embedded into the window.